A Lebanese woman taxi driver stands by her car outside the office of Banet Taxi (Arabic for "Taxi for Women") in Mtaileb, northeast of Beirut, on March 10. The pink taxis are driven by women and only serve women customers.
(Ramzi Haidar/AFP/Getty Images)Photos (1 of 1)
Lebanon: Pink, women-only cabs give taxi service a makeover
By Nicholas Blanford | Correspondent 05.06.09
• A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
BEIRUT, LEBANON – Cab driving in Lebanon – traditionally the preserve of Lebanese men – is being given a feminine makeover with a fleet of bright pink taxis driven by women and accepting only women passengers.
Banet Taxi – Arabic for “Taxi for Women” – is the brainchild of Nawal Fakhri, who also runs a beauty salon in the hilly eastern suburbs of Beirut. “I was in Thailand looking for new beauty products when I saw taxis being driven by women, and I thought, ‘That’s what we need in Lebanon,’ ” she says.
The pink taxis are a startling contrast to the usual taxis found in Beirut, generally dilapidated 1970s-vintage Mercedeses driven by old men with cigarettes permanently clamped between their lips.
Since it launched earlier this year, Banet Taxi has proved hugely popular among women looking for a more comfortable and safer means of travel. “When I heard about Banet Taxis, I immediately took their phone number in case I need them to take my young children from school,” says Rima Abi Samra, a young working mother.
Banet Taxi presently has three cars with another three soon to arrive in preparation for the busy summer months when wealthy Arab tourists from the Gulf flock to Beirut. The female drivers wear uniforms of white shirts, pink ties, and a pink carnation in their hair. The cabbies often catch the attention of other motorists.
“We get men sounding their car horn and making jokes at us,” says Carmel, one of the 12 taxi drivers on the team. “I don’t mind though. I just like to drive.”
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2. Christelle | 05.06.09
I don’t know, when I’m in Beirut I only like my taxi drivers one way: sweaty, grunting, and cleaning his ear with a long pinkie nail.
I’m not sure I’d be comfortable with this.
4. T. Reilly | 05.07.09
This is a possible way to influence other middle eastern states into accepting modernization or reform. The female only is widely accepted in most service industries and could translate to other countries. It would also be a great way to use micro-loans.
5. J. Walsh | 05.08.09
Does no-one else think that sexual segregation is something that shouldn’t be celebrated?
6. Maverick | 05.08.09
J. Walsh -
Hyperbole much?
This would be sexual segregation if it was being enforced by some established authority. Rather this is a case where individual entrepreneurs are meeting the demands of a niche market. It happens all around the world. Female-only hair salons, girls-only boarding schools, womens’ shelters, women-only law firms, and so on and so forth.
The obvious value proposition in Banet Taxi’s business model is to provide women with a mode of transport where they dont have to worry about being subjected to unwanted stares, sexual advances, or other unwanted forms of verbal, auditory, or physical sexual harassment by the service provider.
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1. james | 05.06.09
I have read that people in every country on earth complain about dishonest taxi meters. Perhaps women drivers would bring a higher level of honesty.